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Tuesday, 11 August 2015

Top 10 Authors Whose Books I've Consumed the Most

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the fabulous folks over at 'The Broke & The Bookish'. Want to take part? Follow the link and check out the upcoming topics!This week it's all about the authors we've read the most books from. I'm always one for re-reading, so if it was the most read books this would be a different list entirely, but these are all authors who have written a staggering amount of books which I have greedily devoured. For the purposes of not stressing my little brain out I'm not going to include novellas unless they have been published in a physical book that I can hold in my hands, otherwise this is just going to get confusing...So without further ado, here are the top ten authors I have read the most books from, including a handy little tally to tell you just how many of their books I have consumed.Julia QuinnTotal Books Read: 29My love affair with historical romance started with Julia Quinn (who has written a truly staggering number of books) when I read the seventh book in a series and promptly fell in love and devoured every other book of hers I could get my little mitts on. There are one or two that I'm saving for when I need a pick me up, but otherwise I have a rather large shelf of Julia's books - perfect summer reading, or the ideal chicken soup book when you're feeling a bit down. It's like picking favourite children, but I definitely recommend starting with the Bridgerton's if you're yet to explore Julia's books, but don't feel you have to read them in order!(Plus I'm stupidly proud of my collection of the original American covers with the swoony stepbacks (cue heaving bosoms and shirtless rakes...)

Eloisa JamesTotal Books Read: 20Reading Julia's books led me to pick up Eloisa's, who is another titan in the romance world and writes some of the cleverest, wittiest and swoonworthy-est books around. Her Desperate Duchesses are the most wonderful books, ones that I push on unsuspecting people complaining that there's no real brains or plot behind romance books. Read them and fall in love - then read all her other books. Also try her non-fiction book 'Paris in Love' about the year her and her family moved to France. A little slice of Parisian life in tiny snapshots and anecdotes.

Sarah Rees BrennanTotal Books Read: 9Ah Sarah, how do I love thy books? Let me count the ways...1) Your characters are incredible. Funny, brilliant, with depth and nuances, so that I fall in love with the characters with questionable morals.2) Your plots. You twist brilliant plots that leave me gaping like a little fish because I NEVER SEE THEM COMING (which is a small miracle for me)3) Your writing. I let my Husband read The Lynburn Legacy and when he finished (once he had dried his tears and stopped rending his clothing) he said that he had never read a book where the writing was felt so much from the heart. (Basically our household is now team SRB-TAKE OUR SOULZ)(Numbers 4 - 1000 are basically me waxing lyrical about all the aspects and nuances and favourite moments, but I thought that it might get a little long if I detailed them all. Basically insert heart eyes and flailing here.)

Deanna RaybournTotal Books Read: 10Queen of historical for me will always be Deanna Raybourn. She creates such wonderfully real, flawed and human characters, twisting plots with gasp moments galore, and mysteries that unfold piece by brilliant piece. I love her books, all of them, but my favourites will always be the Lady Julia Grey series. Julia came along at just the right time for me and they are a series of books that I return to again and again.Tamora PierceTotal Books Read: 26Tamora shaped my entire love of reading and the types of books I love to read. One fateful day I was browsing the shelves in the school library, becoming increasingly frustrated with what books were available when I stumbled across a slim purple volume titled 'In The Hand of the Goddess' which informed me it was the second in the Song of the Lioness Quartet. Unwilling to wait for the first book in the quartet to be returned I started with the second book. I never looked back. Because of Tamora I adore strong female characters, I love fantasy worlds, I love magic and complex relationships and love without shame. This book, and the series, gave me everything and I cannot fathom how different my reading would be without them. I since went on to devour almost every other book she's written, although I have yet to catch up on the second two books in the Beka Cooper trilogy, and Battle Magic. Maria V SnyderTotal Books Read: 10Whilst I haven't been as much of a fan of Maria's last couple of books, I still love her stories and the worlds and characters she's created. Poison Study remains an all time favourite fantasy book for me, and I can still remember the excitement and thrill of discovering another fantasy world that I could get lost in and explore, and she hasn't disappointed, offering insights into the world through different characters and a whole host of exciting and thrilling stories.Maggie StiefvaterTotal Books Read: 7My love affair with Maggie's books began with 'The Scorpio Races' and I have never looked back. Whilst I love all of her books, her work from 'The Scorpio Races' on through The Raven Cycle is out of this world. The prose is divine and lyrical and so deceptively simple and beautiful. The characters complex and filled with humanity and you cannot help but fall in love with them. The setting utterly incredible and the stories are just, wow. Maggie's imagination will never cease to amaze me, and I will never be over 'The Scorpio Races' and 'The Raven Cycle'. They are utterly out of this world, the books I would save first in a fire, and the audiobooks I fall asleep listening to night after night.

Jean EstorilTotal Books Read: 12These books are effectively my childhood. The Drina books (of which there are eleven) were a staple part of my bookish diet as a child, and are books that I come back to even now. They are books that my Mum read when she was younger, and still reads to this day. They are books I want my kids to read. They are timeless and brilliant and I love them. Estoril also wrote several other ballet books, but nothing will ever quite top the Drina books for me.

Rachel VincentTotal Books Read: 11Rachel has written so many incredible books. She is the Mistress of twisty delicious romances that you're never sure how they could possible work, and creates such unique and different stories. I adore her Soul Screamers series - they were different, bold and went in whole new and exciting directions at a time when so many YA books were coming out like copies of the same thing. I'm so excited about the start of her new series 'The Stars Never Rise' and I've fallen in love with the romance all over again. In fact it's made me want to go back and revisit the Soul Screamers...I haven't gotten along so well with her adult books, mainly because they are a lot darker and tackle much harder subjects, but they are still incredible books.Cassandra ClareTotal Books Read: 11Love, hate, or feel mildly ambivalent about her books and the ever expanding world of the Shadowhunters, one thing is for sure, Cassie is consistently writing very long, engrossing books. I prefer the original trilogy of TMI and The Infernal Devices, but then I am a sucker for historical novels. Regardless though, Cassie's books have become a staple in the YA section and I'm always curious to see what she does next. She's created such an incredible and engrossing world with her stories and such a diverse and well loved cast of characters. It's phenomenal and I'm so excited to see her latest books as well as the Shadowhunters TV series.There are quite a few authors who clock in at seven books and it was hard to work out who to include and who not to, so notable mentions go to JK Rowling (I need to get on and read her adult books, but I'm still just so in love with Harry Potter...) Terry Pratchett (I know, I know, I need to read more of him) and Neil Gaiman. As well as Belinda Jones and Sophie Kinsella.So there you have my top ten most read authors. Do we share any? Or do you think there are other authors I should be picking up instead? Let me know and link me to your own top tens in the comments below!

26 comments:

YES TO CASSANDRA CLARE AND MAGGIE STIEFVATER!! *flails for both of them* Although, I, erm, admit...i don't even recognise most of these authors! :O So impressed that you've read 29 books by one author though. THAT IS SERIOUSLY AMAZING. I mean, I could probably rival that for my childhood Boxcar Children addiction. ;-) But does that even count?! Those books are tiny and ridiculous and ALL THE SAME. eheheh

I will let you in on a secret... I think the Boxcar Children and Julia Quinn's, whilst probably wildly different in a lot of ways, also sound kinda the same... Julia Quinn's are approx 320 pages, and whilst the plots vary, they all boil down to the same thing... Boy meets girl, sparks, attraction, shirtless hugging, terrible misunderstanding, tears, reunion, happily ever after. So I think the 'tiny and ridiculous and all the same' may actually apply to both... But that doesn't stop the enjoyment! Urgh STIEFVATER SHE WRECKS ME. I cannot even with The Raven Cycle and The Scorpio Races. I am consistently awed and astounded by those books, every time I read them. It hits me all over again RIGHT IN THE FEELS. We may never survive The Raven King. It is known.

I've only read 2 authors from your list and I was not impressed by either of them! I am so glad to hear you enjoy Maria V. Snyder, I wish I liked her writing style! I am so jealous of you, seriously how can you read so many books by the same author? I have my go-to authors but neither of them have so many books released! You go girl!

Ha! Thanks! :) I was very lucky that several of these authors just churn a lot of books out! Maria V Snyder's latest books haven't been quite such hits for me, but I love her earlier books. The world she set up with Poison Study I absolutely loved. Thanks so much for stopping by!

I ended up missing so many authors that I just hadn't remembered how many books of their's I'd actually read! Brain fail! Tamora Pierce is always a must read, so awesome to find others who love her books! Thanks so much for reading!

Oooo! Do it! Read the rest of her Bridgerton series! They are so awesome. My favourites are 'Romancing Mr Bridgerton', 'The Viscount Who Loved Me' and 'It's In His Kiss', but then I have a soft spot for that last one because it was the first one I read. I really hope you enjoy the rest of the series!

Haha, yay, I think Julia Quinn and Eloisa James (particularly Eloisa James) are pretty high up on my list, though not Top Ten for me. James's stuff is often hit or miss for me, but her hits are *wonderful* and among my faves.

Also, I only ever read Pierce's Song of the Lioness Quartet, but that series was instrumental into making me into the type of reader I've become!

Yes! It's so wonderful to hear from other people who love Tamora Pierce, and it's fascinating to see how many people read that quartet early on and had it shape the type of readers they became. She has a lot to answer for! Yes, James can be hit or miss, but those hits really are wonderful. I'm finding I'm not enjoying her latest books as much, but the Desperate Duchesses will always be very firm favourites.

I think the last book is going to destroy us. They would definitely be fire saving material, I adore them, they are such special and incredible books. I find it really hard putting it into words exactly how I feel about them, but they really are just wow.

I spy Maggie Stiefvater!! (OHMYGOD, I'm having SUCH a Maggie moment right now. I just want to reread ALL of her books!). Have you read the Shiver series yet? It's basically my favourite romance of ALL TIME, so if you're interested in that sort of thing - which judging from your other additions, you are - definitely give that a try!Oh and Poison Study is also my favourite fantasy too - but I'm too scared to read the rest of the series, in case it doesn't live up to my expectations... Urgh.Beth xwww.thequietpeople.com

The rest of the Study series never quite recaptured the magic of Poison Study for me. Don't get me wrong, they're good (although I'm not such a fan of the latest) but they just didn't quite hit the awesome of Poison. I NEED to read the Shiver series so badly! I read the first book and then ended up in a massive reading slump and didn't finish the series. I think I was a bit nervous about it because I started with The Scorpio Races and The Raven Boys and then Lament and Ballad didn't quite work for me, so I was scared that I wouldn't like the Shiver series as much, but I really need to get over that and get on them because so many people have told me how good they are! I am in a PERMANENT Maggie mood, which I'm trying to deal with rationally by listening to the audiobook for The Scorpio Races on repeat so I don't just end up reading it over and over and ignoring my TBR pile...

EEEP I've only read one Maggie Stiefvater book. And that's the only person I've read from your list, lol.But I read Shiver waaaay back before I even thought about starting a book blog. I really want to reread it and I definitely want to read The Raven Cycle series!Rosie // rosiereads.com

DO IT, SERIOUSLY, NOW. Maggie is just incredible, I cannot put into words just how much I love her books. I need to finish the Shiver series, I only ever read the first book and that was years ago. But for me there was some incredible shift in her writing and basically The Scorpio Races onwards her writing is transcendent. Utterly incredible, beautiful stuff. I would love to know what you think if you pick them up!

Maggie Stiefvater and Cassandra Clare are two of my favorites as well. I've only read Stiefvater's first book in The Raven Cycle, though I plan to read the others soonish. The Scorpio Races was a wonderfully magical story, and I loved, loved, loved he Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Though, I'll admit I left off Sinner. Maybe one day I'll get to that one.

I really need to finish the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. The Raven Cycle is such an incredible series, although the last book is basically going to destroy everyone. I can't really even put into words how much I love The Scorpio Races. You know when a book just clicks so perfectly with you that you never want to be parted from it and possibly want to find some way to insert it into your ribcage because it is just that good and you never want it to disappear? Yeah, that... :P